Par for the course out in the middle

However, I think & hope you may have underestimated Benitez. He surely knew what he was getting himself into & I doubt he would have done so unless he really felt he could achieve something with the Club.

I also have to disagree as regards any "final, final chance", while the Club survives opportunities will arise. As per the old Doc Pomus tune: "There Is Always One More Time".

I would just add, as Carlo said, "He is not a magician".

When you bring a good manager in, you have to create the conditions in which he can work effectively.

Moshiri must have been aware of the FFP position and the lack of harmony in the boardroom but put his managers in an impossible position. I am sure Rafa was told he would have some money to spend by selling certain players which did not go according to plan because of the crazy contracts we gave players rendering their saleability useless.

Moshiri has to learn you cannot give 5% of your time to running a football club – especially one where you give Kenwright carte blanche.

With a new ground, we just have to hope for a bright future. Unfortunately, that is not an automatic.

Sunderland is just one example. We have to hope that the entire "Management Team", whoever that may be, from Moshiri down, work closely together. Would have to improve 100% over the mess and mis-management of the last 6 to 26 years.

The Future comes far too quickly but, for some of us, not quickly enough.

I think you perhaps underestimate Benitez's role in this, however; I don't get the impression that he's just going through the motions looking for a big pay day. He is a football professional and, although arguably yesterday's man in terms of modern tactics, strategy etc, I believe he will do his level best to make Everton competitive in the Premier League.

A number of teams have been struggling in recent years and have managed to improve significantly with a few intelligent signings. Initially I am thinking of Wolves, Aston Villa, West Ham, Leeds, Leicester... but there are probably others.

I am not talking about Hollywood signings but up-and-coming players with potential. We can do the same but this puts the onus on the scouting team and recruitment policy to get on with it and do their job.

Of course, to do this, they need a clear idea of what kind of team we want and where we want to be as a club. Sadly, this is what we are lacking at the moment!

Regardless of the manager, regardless of the players signed, Everton are consistent: They are consistently lacking in motivation and commitment.

We ruin good players – but perhaps it is most clearly seen in the homegrown rubbish, who regularly look like carthorses who do not break sweat. Yet they still appear arrogant.

The problem is that managers are told they must keep the dinosaurs at Finch Farm – and the dinosaurs continue to turn out half-hearted dross.

Would you care to name the "homegrown rubbish'' you have in mind? Frankly, I struggle to name many "homegrown" players from more recent times, never mind those who have been "arrogant" and "do not break sweat". The names of many non-homegrown acquisitions come to mind much more readily.

Whether Benitez could form part of that team or not, I would say he already has started to point out to the powers that be, they have to change.

I guess he's had long discussions with Mr Moshiri and Mr Usmanov about what they want and how to achieve it. He might only be just that – "a safe pair of hands", as the article writer has said; but I think he's more than that. He's been at successful clubs and seen how they are run. I think that when he told the board to get their fingers out, it was with the full backing of Moshiri and Usmanov.

I don't expect him to do anything other than mid-table safety for two reasons. We are not likely to have any money to spend until who knows when. So the opportunity to bring anyone in who is a ready-made Premier League player of good quality, is remote. Especially with the lumps that we have, who are taking a massive amount in wages out of the club.

Secondly, I don't see many lads coming from the youth teams who are going to light any fires. I'm, hoping that Ellis Simms can make it, and maybe Lewis Dobbin to come alongside Anthony Gordon. We'll wait and see.

There is another point and that is the role of Brands. I see Benitez as having the backing of the big two and with that, we might just get the club on the right track towards a vision that we all want.

And far as I can see, if we don't get the whole lot of the current board members shifted asap, then we'll carry on up Shit Creek without a paddle.

As well as being the manager, I think Benitez is there to advise the owner and his oppo on how to swing this sinking ship around; Captain bloody Birdseye on the bridge should go get a "well-earned"(?) rest.

The two lads who Benitez brought in at the start of the season have been two of our regular best players, don't underrate them. When we have a full team out again, then it gives Benitez some options, rather than none!

If in January or the summer the club has to sell some of the better players just to keep going, then it's a slippery slope downwards.

I don't watch much TV football, but I fell upon Red Bull Salzburg's game against Seville in September. I thought Salzburg were good to watch and was intrigued by how many young players they had.

In their last Champions League game, at Wolfsburg, I thought Salzburg's tall, powerful right-back, Rasmus Kristensen, could go down a storm at Goodison. He is 24.

There was only one fella in the team older than him! All the others were younger. They used 15 players that night at Wolfsburg. Ten of them were 21 or younger. After four games, Salzburg top their group in the Champions League.

I am not saying you could do the very same in the Premier League. But last Sunday against Spurs we fielded two central midfielders aged in their 30s and both were subbed in the second half as they tired.

As for Gray, I think opposing teams are now keeping a closer watch on him, reducing our goalscoring potential.

What Salzburg have done consistently now is extraordinary. You're right, we cannot do what they do in the Premier League. They take advantage of playing in a weak league to give talent the space to develop. But we must find a way to do something along those lines or we'll remain mid-table or worse.

Benitez probably needs to use January to strengthen on the cheap. But it is possible in summer we could easily generate north of £150m in sales of Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison, Mina and Kean. That would leave us with an opportunity to overhaul the squad altogether, and hopefully think a little more strategically around development than last time we had big money to spend.

If we got those fees for our gems, would you trust this club to spend it and make us stronger? Having said that, Benitez is no mug compared to Koeman, Martinez etc.

So there's definitely a chance to build well – but there are now 7 richer clubs plus the likes of Leicester City, Aston Villa and West Ham Utd to contend with, so by no means easy.